I have noticed that over the past couple of months British Airways has been shedding quite a few international routes. Some of these routes which have been mentioned have been traditional near capacity routes for BA, so why the dropping of these routes? In the Caribbean, their actions have aroused suspicions as to their motives and limited explanations . Is it true that they are planning to branch out into South America, so they need to kill off some of these routes for new ones? What is the deal at BA? Anyone got answers?

BA haven't performed all that well recently, and since Rod arrived, the airline has been laying-off workers, disengaging capital interest in loss-makers (Air Liberte), merging domestic & regional ops under one banner (BRAL-Citiexpress) and franchising out long, thin routes (Central Asia & the Middle East to British Mediterranean), as well as joining Oneworld.

Other routes which do not make any more sense (especially the Caribbean leisure routes, operated in non-BA standard high-density configurations) are being scrapped, whilst other former routes (Santiago, Chile) are now offered by a Oneworld partner (Lanchile, EZE-SCL).

I am interested to hear that South America is now being seriously considered by BA; I know that they recently concluded a deal with Iberia, to code-share on some Latin American routes, but it would be nice to have BA to fly into some other airfields-I cannot think which ones though-they already fly into all of the cities I would have guessed!

Capacity does not necessarily mean profits. Profits are not made by filling up the plane with as many people, but rather by selling as many seats AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE. Caribbean leisure routes do have a high number of business and first class passengers year round, like LHR-JFK, LHR-ORD, LHR-SIN, LHR-HKG etc. have. Nor do they have massive cargo demand like these other destinations listed. In most cases, a 75% full aircraft to these places can earn a healthy profit because of the high amount of premium traffic and the large amounts of cargo delivered.

Yes indeed, with the dropping of San Juan last year and plans to drop Montego Bay and Havana by next year and the demands of subsidies to keep flying the Tobago/Grenada route, BA is aggressively trying to cut costs and maximise profits. Barbados will certainly not be affected because of the very strong upscale market from the UK to that island, which indeed supported Concorde services year-round (until the type was grounded). The trouble is, barring BGI most islands' tourist traffic seeks economical fares which is anathema to the new BA regime, who are focusing on the upper segments.

It is sad but the lesson in this is that the Caribbean airlines (BWIA, Air Jamaica, ALM and others) must band together and work as a team to provide adequate air service from international ports to the islands, which are then linked by LIAT and BWee Express. In that way the region will not be as vunerable to economic or political shifts affecting the international carriers.

Oh, Capt., is that the reason for the 9 abreast business class/10 abreast economy class configured B777 on the BA website? Is that part of the AML division, or is that just a charter service configuration?

Oh, if BA is trying to increase their market share of premium pax, aren't they shooting themselves in the foot by changing the commission rules, so that the travel agents will then book flights on other airlines?

However, BA has hinted that some AML routes may be kept, albeit operated by BA a/c in mainline configuration (FJWY or JWY).

I'd heard about the commission bounties being dropped, again another cost-cutting measure I presume.

I don't know much to comment on how that might affect premium bookings; perhaps the Travel Agents will continue to sell BA tickets anyway? Or perhaps BA beleive that most of their premium pax use high-end travel agents who don't object, or perhaps premium pax book straight through with the airline. I really don't know. They may well have shot themselves in the foot!

Cheers,
CP

P.S. Sorry HL, I don't know what will happen with ANU. If it is operated by BA in mainline configuration already, it may well stay, if it is AML, no one knows!